The #1 travel tip for every destination

Hi friends,

How was everyone’s weekend?

Mine was filled with a lot of relaxing around the house and watching movies. It was kind of glorious! Remember how a couple of week’s ago, I said that work was slowing down for me? Well, sadly, that has yet to be the case- so relaxing weekends are still very much appreciated.

Today, I thought I’d share my #1 travel tip. Which is….

DSC05263

Forget all the travel tips and advice, and instead plan the trip that’s right for you!

Why do I say this?

Well, recently, I’ve been researching for my upcoming trips, and looking at pinterest a lot for travel tips (pinterest is a great source to find travel tips if you do want them- they often link you directly to blogs, which give you real people’s experiences on their holidays rather than Travel Advisor, which can sometimes just feel like it’s trying to sell you something). And I started noticing a trend in the captions for what I was looking at. All titles were a variation of:

“7 Things You HAVE to do in…”

“20 Places You Have to Visit Before You Die”

“10 Places to eat at when visiting…”

It can start to feel overwhelming! And the worst is when you come across one for a holiday that you’ve already been on! I started thinking to myself, “Oh no- that would’ve been so cool to see. And now I’ve missed it!”

IMG_4316

But, then I remembered, this is just what other people have seen and loved. It doesn’t mean that I need to orchestrate the exact same holiday!

I remember being in Barcelona with a friend of mine (2 years ago already- how did that happen?!). Someone saw I was there and sent me a really long list of places to visit while there. And I didn’t see it until too late in the trip to go to any of the places they had suggested. And I felt really bummed that I had missed out! But when I think back to that trip, maybe one of my favourite moments was sitting in the sun, at the Park Guell, listening to a man playing Spanish Guitar, eating some mango, and chatting with my friend.

DSC03908

Did I truly miss out on seeing the hot spots? Well- maybe. But in the end, I had the best trip for me. And that’s all that matters in the end.

I like to wander around a city, finding spots as I go, and generally relaxing with the local cuisine beverage (sangria, wine, beer- I’m happy with any of them). So a perfect trip for me is to incorporate that in. Maybe someone else loves museums, so their perfect trip will be going to every museum in the city!

Sure, it’s nice to see the main spots. A trip to Paris might not feel complete with getting up close and personal with the Eiffel Tower. But beyond that, I say forget the travel advice and do what’s right for you. Don’t spend your trip trying to eat the best pizza in Italy (which apparently I missed in Naples), or seeing the best view of the city (missed that one in Vienna), or even the #1 tourist site of the city (missed that in Edinburgh due to the rain). Because no matter what, you’re going to have fond memories of the holiday because you’ll have experienced it in a slightly different way than everyone else.

DSC03433

What would be your number 1 travel tip?

Leave a comment